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silverwingink · 1 year

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Wreck Ch. 3

Cold… It was all so cold.

It was the kind of cold that would seep into your bones and cause a deep ache unlike anything else.

For quite some time it felt like all he could sense was the cold, the ache, and his own shivering.

So it came as quite a surprise when he began to feel enveloped in a deep soothing warmth, like someone had wrapped him in the fuzziest blanket in the world.

Now that he actually thought about it, there definitely was a blanket around him.

Fighting against his exhaustion, he slowly forced his eyes open. It took a few hard blinks to get the blurriness to dissipate, but bit by bit he could make out the room that he was in. Above him, he could see wooden planks and glass bottles hanging by macrame hammocks, each one filled with water and plants.

Had Asmund somehow found him? Brought him here? Had it all been a nightmare?

Danny opened his mouth and tried to call his name, but all that came out was a high-pitched whine that faded off into a pathetic, pained whimper. It was apparent that the hit he’d taken to the throat was coming back to bite him, and it wasn’t the only thing biting either. A consistent soreness emanated from his paws that would snap into a sharp stab if he dared move. His muscles and joints were all floppy with exhaustion from the fight against the waves. And his tail… oh his tail. All the agony he should have felt when he tore himself out of that e-pod was now eagerly taking center stage in his mind.

Another whimper escaped him, this noise being just as weak and regrettable as the last, echoing through the small, strange room, “E e e e e…”

He could practically hear the circuits misfiring in his throat. There was no doubt about it; his artificial voice box was completely shot.

“I think they’re awake,” a muffled voice spoke, barely making it to the edge of his hearing.

Some creaking filled the room, foreign to his ears. Were they walking on wood? He’d only ever really heard genuine wood once before, a long time ago. No one typically had the money to make stuff out of such rare materials anymore.

He slowly glanced toward the sound, taking in more of the space in the process. Pastel-painted walls, aquariums, hydroponics, it was seemingly a plant-lovers dream. Netting was delicately hung up with shells and other curiosities interwoven into the strings. An elegant vanity made of wood and coral stood comfortably to his side. This… didn’t look like a survival habitat.

And the stranger peeking in through the doorway didn’t look familiar.

Dagfinn’s eyes widened some when he saw a green figure poking their head in, staring back at him. The two shared a moment of stunned silence before the stranger sighed, seeming relieved, “Yeah, they’re awake!” they called back over their shoulder, before entering the room.

At first, the blue beetle felt alarmed and reacted by attempting to jolt upright. This action was very quickly punished as every injury on his body screamed in protest at the sudden movement. His breath hitched in his throat as he resisted making another sound, fearing the discomfort it would further cause in his throat.

“W-whoa whoa! Slow down! I’m not going to hurt you!” the stranger spoke, lifting up his hands in front of himself to show he meant no harm, “In fact, you’re just going to end up hurting yourself more if you keep that up!”

Resting his weight on his elbows, Dagfinn steadily sank back down, sighing once his body was again settled on the mattress. The throbbing agony in his wounds slowly calmed, returning to the more subtle ache of before. He wouldn’t be pulling that again.

Seeing this the green beetle approached more carefully, “I’m sorry if I scared you,” they said, “I-I know it must be odd waking up here with a complete stranger, not knowing where you are,” he paused for a moment before offering the other a soft smile, “But, how about we start fixing that? I’m Andromeda,” they rested a hand on their chest with the introduction, “And you’re in a friend’s house right now,” they gestured outward to the room around them, “We found you on the shore, you seemed pretty banged up… do you remember what happened at all?”

The small beetle’s brows furrowed some as he thought back, he could definitely remember what happened, but how would he even explain that? ‘Oh, I’m just an alien from another planet who came here with my cousin, but we got hit by space rocks and–’

The edge of his mouth twitched, resisting a frown. Urgh… on second thought, he didn’t really want to think about it right now.

He looked back up to Andromeda and slowly shook his head, lying. He winced some at the pain it caused in his heavily bruised throat.

Andromeda noticed it immediately, “Ah, I suppose we should keep the questions for later when you’re less sore,” he stepped forward, beginning to look over some of the bandages, “I don’t mind doing some of the talking, as long as you can handle my jokes,” he winked briefly. Dagfinn gave a mildly amused look to this.

The green beetle worked warily, not wanting to cause any further strain on the wounds than what had already been caused. He slowly worked his way around the dressings, checking to make sure they were secure, “You gave us quite the shock y’know. This beach isn’t exactly known for spitting up half-dead tea beetles,” he began, humming briefly as he found some areas on his paws where liquid was beginning to seep through, “Then again, I suppose you’re the most action this town has seen in quite some time,” he mused, gingerly placing Dagfinn’s paw back down and stepping back towards the vanity to grab some equipment.

As Andromeda shuffled through the various items, the blue beetle’s eyes wandered some, eventually landing on the little swirling designs painted onto the doorframe. In all honesty, it was a useless fixation; just something to keep his mind off the pain of the moment. But, much to his luck, something more interesting than painted swirls soon showed itself before him; another head peeking into the doorway. Well… actually, 3 more, all settled at different heights against the frame.

His lips parted slightly as he watched, completely confounded by the look of them. They had similarities to the green fellow but were all so unique in their own ways as well. A tall, shark-like one with a frightening grin and sharp teeth, a pale-blue, elegant one with hair that seemed to flow like water, and, possibly the oddest of them all, a skeleton, perfectly encapsulated in a watery form.

As they entered, Andromeda spoke, “Ah, came to say hello?”

“Yeah, and just to make sure you’re not pulling our tails,” Mako commented, turning her attention to their ‘patient, “How are you holding up little buddy?”

“They’re doing a lot better than before,” Andromeda answered for him, “But I think something happened to their throat, they haven’t been able to speak or move their neck without looking in pain,” he noted, coming back over and beginning to carefully remove the bandages from Dagfinn’s right paw.

“I might have some painkillers in the kitchen if they need them,” the pale blue one offered.

“Might be helpful, thank you, Athena,” They smiled some in her direction, to which she nodded and dipped back out of the room.

The other two introduced themselves while they were there, one with words and the other with signs, which Mako translated. ‘Andromeda, Athena, Mako, and Fiji…This planet’s got unique names,’ he pondered.

Mako turned to Andromeda, “Need an extra hand or two?”

“I find it’s easier if you use both hands, typically,” he smirked.

“Pfft. Ok clown,” Mako snorted, though the comment seemed lighthearted. She became their ‘assistant’ for the moment, passing things from the vanity when they were needed.

Fiji on the other hand approached with some curiosity, looking over the small beetle’s injuries.

Dagfinn’s shoulders tensed some at her approach, still dumbfounded by her mere appearance. She was an honest-to-goodness skeleton, with no special effects or face paint as far as he could tell. He’d seen some bizarre creatures on 4546B, but nothing with an exposed skeleton like this. She also froze when she realized how tense he was, seemingly not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

“Oh, do you wanna help Fiji? You can start unwrapping the other paw if you want, it’s gonna need a change too,” Andromeda spoke up, presenting a few supplies to the other beetle.

Fiji nodded, accepting the tools. After looking them over, she silently offered an open palm to Dagfinn. Was… she letting him choose? After a moment of hesitation, he took it, placing his paw in hers.

And so, the three of them worked, tending to his wounds, speaking with each other, and occasionally sending a remark or joke Danny's way in an attempt to lift his spirits. It wasn't a painless process by any means, of course, it wouldn't be with how tender his wounds were. Despite that, Dagfinn didn't feel alarmed or in danger. In fact, he felt quite… safe.

Even with the questions still swirling in his mind regarding the whereabouts of his cousin, what planet they were even on or if he'd be able to get his voice box fixed, he felt that, at least for the moment, things were going to be okay.

Andromeda belongs to Mirukkii

Fiji, Mako and Athena (mentioned) belong to JoviAC

Chapter 1 is here. Chapter 2 is here.

#writing #creative writing #chapters #backstory #story #teabeetle #tea beetle #silverart #dagfinn #danny #fiji #mako #andromeda

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silverwingink · 1 year

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Wreck Ch. 2

Even with the parachutes, the crash was hard, very hard. It didn’t help that Dagfinn could barely reach the middle of the seat due to his minuscule height, leaving his head unsecured. To say the impact jostled him would be an understatement; it felt like his brain had been rattled around his skull, and it left him in a darkened daze. At the edge of his perception, he could barely make out the sounds of a blaring alarm, and the feeling of cold water drenching his ankles.

Wait– water?

His eyes shot wide open with alarm and realization. Between the incessant beeping of the alarms, he could hear water rushing into the pod, and surely enough, a large hole had been ripped into the hull on the side. By the time he processed what was going on, the frigid water had crept up to his knees. “S-shit–!” was all he could manage to get out before frantically fumbling with the restraints again. After a few attempts, he wrenched himself away, by this point needing to swim to keep his head above the water. Bumped around by the waves, the e-pod had turned from a haven to a cocktail mixer. It was hard to tell which way was up and which was down. He squinted hard through the saltwater in his eyes, until finally spotting what he had been hoping to find; the bright yellow handle of one of the emergency exits.

Dagfinn grabbed onto the handle as best as he could, yanking and yanking at it, and though he could feel the mechanism unlocking, the door refused to budge for him. By now the water had filled most of the pod so that only his head and shoulders were out of it. His mind had been reduced to a frantic mess of thoughts and survival impulses: the cold, the swaying, the need to breathe. Through it all only one thought seemed to scream louder than all the others; ‘Am I going to die here?’

No, this was bullshit! After all that he was going to get taken down by a banged-up e-pod? He refused.

Steeling himself he took in a deep breath, possibly his last, and dipped his head beneath the waterline. The emergency lights were still blinking, so he could make out the interior. As far as he could tell, there was only one way out of this sinking hunk of junk; the hole. It looked narrow and the edges were treacherously jagged, but he was little, so maybe he could squeeze through it! He could only hope.

Dagfinn kicked off hard from the opposing wall, reaching out until grabbing onto the edges of the hole. He forced his head through, then with a hard pull, his torso. The sharp edges tore his exosuit apart, though thankfully spared his skin. It was only now that the real trouble started. Not being used to this new form quite yet, he had neglected to factor in his lower parts, primarily his tail, which now roughly got caught on the edges of the metal. He kicked his legs violently beneath him, desperately searching for some sort of leverage to use. A single claw caught on something, and it was just enough to allow him to drag the rest of himself out. Fur and flesh tore, but in the surge of adrenaline, he didn’t notice the pain. Using the e-pod’s outside wall he drove himself up and began his mad dash towards the surface. The pod soon disappeared into the darkness of the abyss below.

It only took seconds to reach the surface, but they felt like some of the longest seconds of his life. As soon as his head left the water he gasped loudly for air and, blinking the salt out of his eyes, tried to look around. He was shocked to find himself in the middle of a storm. Waves stirred angrily around him, hard droplets pelted him from above and the wind deafened his ears. And yet, he could also perceive one more thing; a shoreline, not too far off. There was a chance! With a rejuvenated sense of hope, he began paddling as hard as he could toward the coast. If there was one thing he was grateful to 4546B for, it was teaching him how to swim, and well.

But the ocean would not allow him to escape her so easily.

Over and over, waves would overtake him, driving him back into the water, shoving him about and completely scrambling his sense of direction. It only got worse the closer to the shore he got, as it wasn’t only the water he was fighting now, but also the rocks. He barely managed to twist his body out of the way of one… two… three–! He dug his claws into one to stop himself from being thrust into another. His paw pads screamed out in agony as the jagged stone scraped them raw. He could feel the exhaustion and cold beginning to seep into his bones, ‘Keep it together Danny! You’re almost there!’ he tried his best to urge himself on, he could see it right there! A sandy bit just beyond these rocks!

He let go of the stone he was on and swam forward, but even his quickest dash still wasn’t swift enough to outpace the waves. Another swell crashed down on him and rammed him into a boulder beneath that he hadn’t seen. The uneven surface jabbed hard into his flesh, grating the fur and skin on his chest and blowing the air out of his lungs. But the sting of that was nothing compared to the electric agony that erupted from his throat when a jutting piece smashed into it.

It was fuzzy after that. He remembered waking up underwater again. He remembered gasping for air at the surface, partly choking on a liquid that was far too warm to be just water. He remembered dragging himself up onto the shore and collapsing on the sand. He remembered feeling the droplets of rain continuing to relentlessly soak his fur.

—--------------------------

It felt like no matter how much he tried to shake off the wetness, he kept feeling more droplets escaping from his long, and admittedly a little messy at the moment, hair. The sudden storm had seemingly done an excellent job of thoroughly drenching the green tea beetle.

‘At least I’m not alone in my misery,’ he thought, glancing back over their shoulder to the two others who were following after. However, neither of them seemed particularly miserable at that moment. Mako almost seemed to be joyfully soaking in the water droplets, which glided easily across her shark-like form. She looked quite at home being dowsed. As for Fiji, well, she was primarily made of water, so…

‘Nevermind,’ he let out a bit of a groan, blowing some of the wet hair out of his eyes.

Both Mako and Fiji seemed to notice this reaction, with the shark-like tea beetle quickening her pace so she would catch up, “Heh, sorry about the rain Andromeda,” she spoke, taking a moment to adjust the bag of seaweed that was slung over her shoulder.

Andromeda glanced in her direction and gave a tired smile, “It’s alright. I forgot to check the forecast today, so it’s kinda on me,” he waved it off, “I ended up getting what I needed regardless.”

Mako opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment Fiji scampered up, holding a large leaf in her hands which she extended out towards Andromeda. It took a second or two to understand what she was doing, but when it clicked they gently took the stem and held the large leaf above his head, “Oh, thanks,” they nodded. Finally, he could at least stop getting more wet.

Fiji smiled and nodded in return, then tilted her head and made some gestures with her hands. Mako was quick to translate, “She’s asking what you needed all that seaweed for anyways.”

“Oh, it’s an excellent way to hide the scent of a body,” they said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. Both Fiji and Mako had a moment of pause at this, eyes widening some. He would then snort and laugh a bit, “I’m kidding! It’s to make fertilizer. Seaweed is full of nutrients that plants need, and some of mine have been looking a bit sad lately,” they clarified.

Fiji silently sighed in relief at this, whereas Mako snorted and grinned, giving the green tea beetle a light shove with her hip, “You could’a just said so before! You were being so cryptic about it I thought were you doing some sort of ‘sea monster summoning ritual’ or something!”

“Maybe next time–” he remarked, though their sentence was cut short when they bumped hard into Fiji’s back, “Ack! Sorry, I–” Andromeda stopped himself when they saw that the water beetle was seemingly transfixed on something in front of her. Following her eyes (or her sockets?), they soon spotted it too.

At first, it just looked like a clump of blue fur washed onto shore, like some sort of dead animal. But the closer the group looked, the more they realized this was no creature at all, but a tea beetle! They were laying unconscious on their stomach with their legs still being lapped at by the waves. Whatever clothing they had on had been severely torn up, leaving tattered strips of cloth behind. Amongst their cool blue tones, they could see splashes of washed-out crimson staining bits of the sand below.

The group was left speechless at the sight, with Mako dropping the bag of seaweed in her shock. Fiji was the first to rush over, kneeling down and placing a hand on the stranger’s shoulder. She gave them a small shake to see if they would wake up… but nothing happened. Troubled by this result, she frowned more worriedly and reached up to gently brush the hair out of their eyes. It was at this point that she saw some blood trickling from their mouth and flinched, pulling back and covering the lower half of her face.

Mako and Andromeda quickly joined her side, “What the hell happened?” the shark beetle asked.

“I-I don’t know, just give me a sec here,” the green beetle responded, beginning to check over the injured stranger, “Okay, they’re breathing… and their pulse seems s-stable for now,” he moved his paw over the stranger’s forehead, “T-they’re freezing, and b-bleeding… They look like they washed up on shore, maybe a castaway or something?”

“If that’s the case, there might be more out there,” Mako concluded, turning to look towards the sea. But she could see no shrapnel within the violent waves, “What if a boat went down?”

“I have no clue,” Andromeda shook their head, “But if we don’t get this bleeding under control or warm this beetle up, they aren’t going to last much longer here,” their expression was grim.

“What do we do then?” Mako asked.

Andromeda’s mouth formed into a thin frown and his brows furrowed as he considered the options, “Well… We have no idea if they’ve sustained any more serious injuries, so we don’t want to handle them roughly. Fiji, can you see if you can find another large leaf? Something big enough to use to transport them?” Fiji nodded affirmatively and stood up, skittering off, “Good. I’ll try to use what I’ve got on me to slow down the bleeding. We’ve got nothing to warm them here though, everything is too soaked! We’ll need to take them inside somewhere.”

“Athena lives the closest to here,” Mako said quickly, “Fiji has some keys in case she isn’t there.”

“What about you?” Andromeda asked.

“I…” she looked back towards the sea, “I need to make sure there aren’t more beetles hurt out there. That is if you don’t need help carrying them,” she glanced back.

“I think Fiji and I can handle it,” he nodded.

“Alright. I’ll be sure to call more help if I find any more,” Mako gave a thumbs up. By that point, Fiji had come back with a large leaf. Mako took a moment to crouch down and kiss Fiji on the forehead, to which the water beetle answered with a look of confusion, “I’m going to be right back, okay? I just need to make sure no one else needs help out there.”

She let the leaf drop and frantically signed in return.

“I’m going to be as careful as I can, I promise, okay?”

Fiji bit the inside of her cheek… uncertain. But ultimately she gave a nod.

After planting another gentle kiss on her cheek, Mako turned and quickly lept into the water.

“Help me out over here Fiji!” Andromeda called. Fiji turned and quickly obliged. -------------------------------------

Andromeda belongs to Mirukkii

Fiji, Mako and Athena (mentioned) belong to JoviAC

Chapter 1 is here.

Chapter 3 is here.

#writing #creative writing #chapters #backstory #story #teabeetle #tea beetle #silverart #dagfinn #danny #fiji #mako #andromeda

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